As a new chicken owner, I'm reading all I can about keeping my 12 week old RIRs as healthy as possible. Recently, I've been reviewing a lot of past posts about worming. This is what I've gathered:

1. Worm on a regular basis, anywhere from every 6 months to once a year.

2. Use wazine first. Do not eat eggs for 2 weeks (not a problem with 12 week olds).

3. In 2 weeks, follow up with Ivermectin. Do not eat eggs for 2 weeks.

Here are my questions. Is 12 weeks too young for worming? How do I know if I even need to worm? My chickens free range about an hour or 2 every day. There are a lot of wild birds handing around the feeders, and of course the chickens gather under the feeders to scratch for dropped bird seeds. So they are exposed to wild bird droppings.

If their on the ground their exposed to worms, at 3 months I am not sure about worming, more than likely you can though, hopefully someone with more experience with this will chime in though.... forgot to say how pretty they are

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about worming them until they are at least a year old unless they are having health problems. I used to have my birds on a scheduled worming each fall. It seemed the best time to do it because they are:
-molting, so there is a decrease in the number of eggs that must be discarded.
-getting ready for their toughest season of the year, so they will be starting it with a "fresh slate" so to speak.

I now worm my birds whenever I have an external parasite infestation because of the product I use. Eprinex deals with bugs both inside and out each time it's used. My birds get mites fairly regularly which I treat as needed. I haven't used the Eprinex more than twice a year, so I guess my birds get wormed a maximum of twice a year. That is more than adequate.

Quote:Chickens can handle a small wormload. Depending where you live depends how light or heavy the wormload is. Up north during the winter the soil is mostly frozen or cold and not condusive for worms. Therefore chickens might need to be only wormed once a year. In the south where the soil is warm and moist, or not frozen, it is condusive for worms. It might be necessary to worm chickens 2 or more times a year. The best thing to do is to observe your chickens behavior. If they are acting lethargic, slowed or stopped eating and drinking and stopped laying...most likely they have worms....lice or mites are possible as well or both. Check their poop occasionally. If you see a couple of worms in their poop, it means there's hundreds in their system laying thousands of eggs to be deposited in the soil to be picked up by another chicken pecking the ground, then the cycle starts all over again. The cycle has to be broken by doing an initial worming followed up 10-14 days later by a second worming to get rid of larva that the chickens picked up since the first worming...the second worming breaks the worms lifecycle. I live on the Georgia/Florida border near the swamp...and the St Mary's river is just down the road from me...I have to worm my chickens 4 times a year, the soil here is worm soup. It's a chickens owners decision when or how often they should worm their chickens...sometimes our chickens help us out in making these decisions by their behaviors, action or inactions.

if they get loose bowls, or look a little pale headed , I'd go ahead and worm.. Worming under 4 months of age isn't usually necessary.

I live in Hawaii, and really the more bugs they eat the more worms they can get ,as most bugs are intermediate hosts for some kind of parasite , IE: earthworms are carriers for the tape worm, cockroaches, the eye worn, grasshoppers, round worm/ hair worm / cecal worm, and many other insects can harbor things... in Hawaii it's always bug season, I worm once a year with Moxidectin, oral drench for sheep. ( well twice usually 10 days apart ) It kills all blood sucking external parasites, including ear mite and scaly leg mites , and most of the worms chickens can get into ... tape worm needs a prescription from a vet ...( they can also get gape worm , crop worm, gizzard worm, LOL)

Quote:Good advice Zoey. A recommendation...as far as tapeworms go, you can purchase Valbazen (albendazole) liquid cattle/sheep wormer and dose your chickens with that. Valbazen kills all known types of worms that chickens can get, including tapeworms and liver flukes. The equine horse wormers including Zimectrin Gold, Equimax, contain ivermectin and praziquantel. Praziquantel kills tapeworm. Quest Plus Gel equine wormer contains moxidectin and praziquantel which also kills tapeworms. Recommended withdrawal for wazine is 14 days as stated on the bottle for slaughter, if the chicken is safe to eat after 14 days, so are the eggs. All the wormers here have a 2 week withdrawal period.

According to Gail Damerow's book, 'The chicken health Handbook', it suggests that the chicken can store an egg 10 days, before she lays it , therefore wouldn't the withholding time be, 10 days + the time to slaughter ? .. (to be completely sure , LOL)

Just food for thought...

Many Veterinarians Recommendd 1 month withholding time on any medication, however they must have 'Tail Coverage'...

According to the maker of wazine 17, Fleming Laboratories Inc, (I have the bottle in hand) WARNING: Do not medicate prior to slaughter within 14 days for turkeys and chickens and 21 days for swine. Do not use in chickens producing eggs for human consumption. Restricted drug- use only as directed.
After 14 days the chicken or turkey is ok for slaughter...it makes sense to me if the chicken or turkey is good to eat after the 14th day, so are the eggs. It's your choice, you can eat the eggs whenever you wish. There's always the possibility that someone might have a reaction to the piperazine however slight the medication is, hence the 14 day withdrawal to be on the safe side. This is true for most wormers, the exception being eprinex...which has no withdrawal period.